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Status and Occurrence of Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus Rubinus) in British Columbia

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Status and Occurrence of Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus Rubinus) in British Columbia Status and Occurrence of Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) in British Columbia. By Rick Toochin and Don Cecile. Submitted: April 15, 2018. Introduction and Distribution The Vermillion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) is a spectacular plumaged passerine that is found from the arid deserts of the southern United States, throughout Central America, and throughout South America, including the Galapagos Islands (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004). This species breeds in Arid scrub, farmlands, parks, golf courses, desert, savannah, cultivated lands, and riparian woodland, and is usually found near water (Sutton 1967b, Oberholser 1974c).There are many recognized subspecies that could one day end up as separate species and it is recommended reading Clements et al. (2017) to find out all the various forms of this species. In this account, the focus will be on the more widespread North American subspecies. In North America, there are 2 subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher (Clements et al. 2017). The first subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher is (Pyrocephalus rubinus flammeus) which is a localized subspecies found in the lowlands of south-central and southeastern California (Crouch 1959). Current breeding locations in California include San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, north to Kern County (Rosenberg et al. 1991, Small 1994, Myers 2008). This subspecies also breeds in southern Nevada, where it is locally common, and is generally found north to 37°N (Ellison et al. 2009), with one nesting record north near Reno (Ryser 1985). The range of the Vermilion Flycatcher extends up into the extreme southwestern corner of Utah where it is rare (Behle et al. 1985). This subspecies also breeds in northwestern Arizona and the Mogollon Rim south throughout the state; it is common along the base of the Huachuca Mountains, but absent from the south-western corner of the state (Coues 1874a). The Vermilion Flycatcher is also a rare and local breeder along the Salt and Colorado Rivers (Monson and Phillips 1964, Rosenberg et al. 1991). It is found as a locally common breeder on the lower Verde and Salt Rivers, in Maricopa County in Arizona (Ellison et al. 2009). This subspecies is also found breeding in southern New Mexico in the Pecos from Roswell south, in San Francisco, in Gila, and lower-middle Rio Grande Valley, with occasional summer records from northeastern New Mexico in the San Miguel and Union counties (Ligon 1961, Hubbard 1978c). The second subspecies of Vermilion Flycatcher found in North America is (Pyrocephalus rubinus mexicanus) which breeds in western and central Texas, mainly in the central and southern Trans-Pecos and the Edwards Plateau, and north into areas south of the panhandle and southeast to the lower Texas coast (Oberholser 1974c, Sexton 2001b, Clements et al. 2017). This subspecies also breeds south into Mexico in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla and Veracruz (Clements et al. 2017). 1 The Vermilion Flycatcher is an occasional breeder in central and western Oklahoma near the boundary of Major-Woodard Counties, and in Lincoln, and Cimarron Counties (Baumgartner and Baumgartner 1992). This species is a rare breeder in Colorado in Washington County (Downing 1981) and in Kansas where the first breeding record was found in 2006 in Morton County, which is 100 km east-north-east of Cimarron County, in Oklahoma where they are found breeding (Corder 2006). The Vermilion Flycatcher has an extensive range throughout Mexico and Central America (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004). This species breeds in Baja California from southern Baja California Norte south and throughout Mexico (except in the Caribbean lowlands of the Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz), but is found in northern Chiapas, Quintana Roo, central and eastern Campeche, northwestern Sonora, the Pacific coast of Sonora and the Pacific coast from Jalisco south to Chiapas (Rowley 1966, Howell and Webb 2010, Sibley 1997). The Vermilion Flycatcher also breeds in Belize, parts of northern Guatemala, and in the lowland pine savannah of eastern Honduras and northeastern Nicaragua (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004, Howell and Webb 2010). In South America, the Vermilion Flycatcher breeds in 2 very separate regions of the continent (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004). The northern range includes Guyana, Venezuela, and arid parts of northern and western Colombia, western Ecuador, western Peru, and extreme northern Chile (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004). The southern range includes eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern and central Argentina, south to Río Negro (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004). It also breeds on the Galápagos Islands (Ridgely and Tudor 1994). The Vermilion Flycatcher is a mostly resident species, but the northernmost breeding populations in the southern United States and northwestern Mexico and southernmost breeding populations in southern South America are migratory (Fitzpatrick et al. 2004). Migratory distances range between 0 and 4,000 km (Elphick 2007). Some individuals occasionally winter in the northernmost portion of the breeding range (Elphick 2007). Breeding birds depart from southern California by late August (Small 1994), and depart from the northern Sonora by late September and October (Russell and Monson 1998). Migrants arrive in the lower Colorado River Valley by mid-September (Rosenberg et al. 1991). Examples of extremely late departure dates include a record from October 19 in Arizona, (Phillips et al. 1964a) and a record from September 12 in Texas (Oberholser 1974c). The migration routes of the Vermilion Flycatcher have remained largely unstudied; at least a few individuals regularly migrate east to overwinter along the northern Gulf Coast, as far inland as the Mississippi Delta (Elphick 2007). In addition, individuals have occasionally appeared at widely scattered locations in North America north and east of breeding range during migration 2 (Ellison et al. 2009). Fall downslope movement of resident populations is known to occur. In Colorado, the Vermilion Flycatcher is a very rare migrant in the early spring and in the late fall, primarily on the eastern plains (Andrews and Righter 1992). There is only a single documented record from California offshore islands on San Nicolas Island, September 29, 1974 (Garrett and Dunn 1981). During the austral winter, southerly breeders migrate north as far as Amazonian Brazil, southeastern Colombia, and southeastern Ecuador (Ridgely and Tudor 1994). The Vermilion Flycatcher’s winter range fluctuates with winter conditions; in some winters the species will wander along river corridors outside its normal range (Grinnell and Miller 1944). Resident throughout all, but the northernmost portion of its breeding range in the United States, Mexico, and Central America (Ellison et al. 2009). It winters outside of the breeding range throughout the coastal plain of Texas (Oberholser 1974c), in deserts of southeastern California north to southern Inyo County (Garrett and Dunn 1981) and southwestern Arizona (Russell and Monson 1998), and in eastern Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, northern Veracruz, and southern Sonora, Mexico (Howell and Webb 2010, Russell and Monson 1998). There are a few winter records along the coastal plain of Sonora (Russell and Monson 1998). A few individuals winter regularly along the California coast north to Ventura County and occasionally to San Luis Obispo County, along the Gulf Coast of the United States, rarely north to southern Arkansas, and throughout mainland Florida, but not recorded in the Florida Keys (Robertson and Woolfenden 1992a, Small 1994, American Ornithologists' Union 1998a). The species is casual in the winter north to northern California (Small 1994), southwestern Utah (Behle et al. 1985), New Mexico (Hubbard 1978c), Texas north of 37°N (Oberholser 1974c), northeastern Oklahoma (Baumgartner and Baumgartner 1992), and south to southern Guatemala and northern Honduras (American Ornithologists' Union 1998a). The Vermilion Flycatcher will spend the winter season where the average minimum January temperature is usually above –1°C (Root 1988b). Range extensions of this temperature gradient are along protected river valleys, including the Mississippi, Brazos, Pecos, Rio Grande, and Colorado rivers (Root 1988b). High numbers are seen in the winter in southern Texas, around Nogales, in Arizona (Root 1988b), and along the Colorado River in southern Arizona (Phillips et al. 1964a). In South America, all populations are resident except the southernmost ones; these migrate north as far as Amazonian Brazil, southeastern Colombia, and southeastern Ecuador during the austral winter (Ridgely and Tudor 1994). The Vermilion Flycatcher is casual in Panama with records from Canal area and from west Panamá province and there are sight reports from Colón and Chiriquí provinces (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989). 3 The Vermilion Flycatcher has undergone a slight push northward in its breeding range over the past 100 years (Ellison et al. 2009). It was Unrecorded in Oklahoma prior to 1949, but since that time has been recorded throughout the state, with nesting attempts in 1956, 1960, 1982, and 1985 (Baumgartner and Baumgartner 1992). The first nesting record in the Texas Panhandle was in Amarillo in 1959 (Baumgartner and Baumgartner 1992). The first nesting records for Colorado were in 1981 and 1994 (Kingery 1998f). Since 1983, the Vermilion Flycatcher has become much more widespread on the Edwards Plateau and in the southern Texas brush county (Oberholser 1974c, Sauer et al. 2008a). Prior to 1940,
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